Adrien Leroy eBook

Clever, Mr. Vermont most undoubtedly was. His
worst enemies would not have denied him that virtue;
but in this case his cleverness had over-reached itself.
It had so amused him to torment his victim, that
he had never questioned Wilfer’s statement that
the girl, Jessica, was his niece. Had he known
her identity, subsequent events might have proved
far different; but man, with all his gifts, is blind
as to the future; he sees as in a glass darkly, trusting
and believing in his own feeble powers, as if he were
omnipotent.

Meanwhile, Jasper trudged gaily along.

“Strange,” he murmured, “how things
work round for me. That princely idiot plays
into my hands at every turn. What luck that I
should just have followed him to-night—­I’ll
live to see him humbled and disgraced yet!”
With which pleasant thought he hummed Miss Lester’s
latest song and pursued his way to the theatre.

Some few hours later, he stood beside Adrien before
the latter’s motor.

“Are you coming with me, Jasper?” said
Leroy heartily. “I’m afraid I’ve
taken up a lot of your time to-night.”

“My dear Adrien, does not my whole life belong
to you?” replied the arch-hypocrite.

Adrien waved the suggestion aside.

“By the way, what is the time?” he said,
feeling for his watch.

“I don’t know,” answered his friend,
“mine has stopped.”

“Well, mine has gone,” said Leroy quietly.
“I remember now; it was in that affair in the
park.”

Jasper smiled, as his fingers touched furtively the
watch and chain in question.

“Did you find your papers?” inquired Adrien,
as they rolled through the streets. “Jackson
told me you lost them coming out of the theatre one
night.”

“No,” answered Vermont, a flush of annoyance
crossing his brow. “I have not. But
it’s of no consequence; Jackson need not have
bothered you about such a trifle. Merely accounts.
I dropped them somewhere between the stage and Ada’s
motor, and I suppose I must look upon them as gone
for ever.”

“I hope not,” said Adrien sympathetically.

“They are of no consequence,” said Vermont
again, as they reached Jermyn Court.

Nevertheless, Mr. Vermont would have given many pounds
of his dearly-beloved money to have had those papers
safely clutched in his hand. But at present they
were lying on the bosom of a wandering, homeless girl,
and it was well for Jasper that he could not foresee
when she was to cross his path again.

CHAPTER XIX

On the following morning, as Adrien stood before a
mirror, putting the finishing touches to his toilet,
carefully supervised by Norgate, his thoughts went
back to Jessica. The idea of the child wandering
about the streets, homeless and penniless, filled
him with a supreme pity. He had meant to have
spoken to Jasper about it, but he felt half ashamed;
besides, he rather dreaded to see Vermont’s cynical
smile at the idea of his turning philanthropist to
street-waifs.